Paleo Zucchini Cake

May 11, 2024 / Lyn Jones / 0 Comments

An easy, delicious tender GF and DF cake with amazing dairy-free cream cheese frosting! If halving, use a bread pan for a smaller serving or even cupcakes! Just keep an eye on the baking process and remove from oven when the middle bounces back to touch.

INGREDIENTS

  • .5 cup almond flour
  • .5 cup tapioca flour
  • .25 cup coconut flour
  • 1.5 cups riced or shredded zucchini
  • 1 cup coconut sugar or sub maple sugar or monk fruit sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • .25 teaspoon salt
  • .5 cup extra light-tasting olive oil or coconut oil, melted then measured
  • 2 large eggs

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 4 oz cream cheese, softened (See notes for brand recommendations)
  • 1/2 cup vegan butter or ghee, softened
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 4 1/2 – 5 cups powdered monk fruit sugar (paleo) or icing sugar 
    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×9 baking pan with parchment paper. I hold this in place by temporarily attaching it with binder clips to the sides of the pan.
    • In a large bowl combine all ingredients. Stir by hand until well combined.
    • Spread cake batter into prepared pan. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the centre bounces back when touched. Remove from oven and let cool fully before frosting. (You can accelerate this by letting it cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then putting it on a cooling rack and cool in the freezer).
    • Make frosting by beating together cream cheese, ghee or vegan butter, and vanilla in a medium bowl until well combined. Gradually add in powdered sugar until it reaches spreading consistency. If it gets too dry or thick, add 1-2 tablespoons dairy-free milk. If it’s too thin, add another 1/4 cup powdered sugar.
    • Once cake is cooled, spread with frosting and serve. Up to you how much of the frosting you add to the cake. The frosting freezes well if you don’t use it all!
    • IF you have any cake leftovers, they can be stored in the fridge for a week or in the freezer in a sealed container for up to 3 months. Enjoy!

    NOTES

    NUT-FREE OPTION: Instead of the almond + tapioca + coconut flour combination, use ONLY 1 1/2 cup cassava flour, being sure to fluff the cassava flour with a fork before measuring. Again, the cassava flour will replace all three flours and be the only flour in the batter.

    KETO OPTION: Use the combination flours (almond, coconut, and tapioca) and granulated monk fruit sugar in the cake, and powdered monk fruit in the frosting.

    Dairy-free Cream Cheese Recommendations: We love Kitehill or Violife for a great neutral cream cheese flavor. Kitehill we get at our local natural food store. Violife we find at Winco and is nut-free!

 

Chewy Chocolate Chunk Honey Sesame Cookies

April 8, 2024 / Lyn Jones / 0 Comments

Every bite has chewy edges with soft, chocolatey centres, making these cookies extra yummy!
They are super easy to make and healthier too. Makes 12


.5 c salted butter at room temp (ghee and add salt?)
.5 c honey
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 c white whole wheat flour – try spelt instead of plain flour for denseness – or rye
.5 tsp cinnamon (opt)
.75 tsp bicarb
.5 tsp salt
1.5 c chopped chocolate chunks or chips
.33 c sesame seeds, toasted

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Toast the sesame seeds.
2. Add the butter to a skillet set over medium heat; cook until the butter begins to brown*,
about 3-4 mins. Remove from heat, transfer to a heatproof bowl. Let cool for 5 minutes or so.
(* Let the butter cook until it bubbles up and foams on top. This is when I turn the heat off and continue to allow the butter to cook in the pan. Little brown bits will form on the bottom of the pan. Those are the nutty little bits that will make your recipes extra delicious).

3. To the browned butter add the honey, egg & vanilla, mixing until smooth. Add flour, cinnamon (if using), bicarb and salt and mix til just combined. Mix in the chocolate and sesame seeds. Dough may be too wet to roll yet so let it sit and chill 10 mins to stiffen it: don’t neglect this step!

4.  Roll dough into tablespoon-sized balls, place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Gently flatten the dough down. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven, rotate, and tap the baking sheet on your counter 1-2 times to flatten them (don’t omit this).
Bake another 2-3 mins til cookies are just beginning to set on the edges.

5. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. They will continue to cook slightly as they sit there.  Eat warm (highly recommend) or let cool and store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

NOTES:  your cookies will come out flat and chewy with very wrinkled edges and pockets of melted chocolate. They will require no chilling and take less than thirty minutes altogether. They’re even pretty healthy too! Hopefully, you’ll love these and be making them year-round!

– dough can be made up the night before.

– they are more cake-like than we were led to believe.

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